Health Highlights: April 27, 2022

Prescription steroids can be dangerous for sickle cell patients. Reactions to the drugs can be particularly severe among older people, women and patients not taking the drug hydroxyurea to treat their disease, new research shows. Read more

Pfizer seeks FDA authorization for booster shots in kids ages 5 to 12. A small study finds children's antibody levels against the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 were six times higher a month after a booster dose. Read more

Antibiotics in infancy might weaken response to childhood vaccines. Getting the drugs early in life might dampen youngsters' ability to generate infection-fighting antibodies in response to shots, a study shows. Read more

More evidence that lockdowns harmed mental health. So finds an international study that compared efforts to either eliminate or slow the spread of the new coronavirus. Read more

Smoking rates drop for Americans battling depression, substance abuse. Smoking and mental illness too often go hand-in-hand, but new data finds that might be less so now than in years past. Read more